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1 Humphreys, E.; Tuong, T. P.; Gomez-Macpherson, H.; Tabo, R.; Awulachew, Seleshi Bekele; Bediako, J.. 2009. Increasing the productivity and sustainability of rainfed cropping systems of poor, smallholder farmers: overview of recent findings from the Challenge Program on Water and Food. In Humphreys, E.; Bayot, R. S. (Eds.). Increasing the productivity and sustainability of rainfed cropping systems of poor smallholder farmers: proceedings of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, International Workshop on Rainfed Cropping Systems, Tamale, Ghana, 22-25 September 2008. Colombo, Sri Lanka: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. pp.1-21.
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 631 G000 HUM Record No: H042438)
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/Outputs/WaterfoodCP/CPWF_Proceedings_Rainfed_Workshop%5B1%5D.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H042438.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H042438.pdf
(0.58 MB) (8.92MB)
The majority of the world’s rural poor people depend on rainfed crop and livestock systems for their food and livelihoods. However, the productivity of these systems is often low, leading to hunger and poverty, and land and water degradation often prevail. As this review of the findings of many CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food and other projects shows, there are many well-known technical options to enable better use of rainwater and nutrients by crops. These include the use of improved varieties, improved fertilizer and agronomic management, in-field water harvesting, conservation agriculture, and supplementary irrigation from ground and surface water sources. For maximum benefit, integrated crop, nutrient, soil and water management is essential. However crop yield response to these technologies is variable, depending on site, cultural practices and seasonal conditions, affecting adoption by farmers. The challenges to achieving widespread adoption of the improved technologies include identifying the optimal or “best bet” technologies for local situations, taking into account the local agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, plus institutional and policy factors at local to national levels. Systematic approaches, with detailed process monitoring, combined with the use of crop simulation models, are needed to develop generic guidelines to match technologies to agro-ecological conditions, together with analyses of risk in terms of productivity and profitability. The improved technologies must be used by very large numbers of poor farm families if they are to make a substantial difference to rural food security and quality of livelihoods. However, widespread uptake of technologies also requires good understanding of farmers’ socio-economic conditions and perceptions, and the presence of enabling policies and institutional arrangements. These include investment in dissemination strategies, improvements in access to micro-credit and input and product markets, fertilizer subsidies, and investment in infrastructure such as roads. Widespread adoption of technologies to increase land and water productivity of rainfed cropping systems will affect patterns and quality of runoff to surface water bodies, and deep drainage to groundwater systems, with possible consequences for downstream water users, including surface and groundwater dependent ecosystems. Therefore a focus on integrated land and water resources management is important, and this must be done across scales, from groups of small fields to communities, to sub-catchments and catchments, and ultimately to whole river basins. Unfortunately, this has not been adequately addressed.
Based on the findings of this review, five key recommendations are proposed to further progress the adaptation and adoption of improved technologies to improve food security and livelihoods of poor, rural smallholders. These are:
Recommendation 1 – systematic evaluations of water harvesting
and conservation agriculture technologies, integrated with crop and nutrient management, and with good monitoring of crop and soil water dynamics to develop generic process understanding
Recommendation 2 – use of crop simulation modeling to inform the systematic evaluation in recommendation 1; this will also require significant investment in good data sets for model calibration and evaluation
Recommendation 3 – development and application of models and other approaches for assessing the impacts of widescale adoption of improved crop/water management technologies in farmers’ fields at a range of scales from micro-catchment to basins
Recommendation 4 – longer term trials with the warrantage (inventory credit) system to assess its sustainability and impacts, and factors leading to successful implementation
Recommendation 5 – significant investment in understanding farmers’ conditions and perceptions, and in the development of institutions and policies that enable widespread uptake of improved technologies by farmers, and that promote integrated land and water resources management. This should include policies that enable the tremendous potential for fertilizer to greatly increase production in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Based on the findings of this review, five key recommendations are proposed to further progress the adaptation and adoption of improved technologies to improve food security and livelihoods of poor, rural smallholders. These are:
Recommendation 1 – systematic evaluations of water harvesting
and conservation agriculture technologies, integrated with crop and nutrient management, and with good monitoring of crop and soil water dynamics to develop generic process understanding
Recommendation 2 – use of crop simulation modeling to inform the systematic evaluation in recommendation 1; this will also require significant investment in good data sets for model calibration and evaluation
Recommendation 3 – development and application of models and other approaches for assessing the impacts of widescale adoption of improved crop/water management technologies in farmers’ fields at a range of scales from micro-catchment to basins
Recommendation 4 – longer term trials with the warrantage (inventory credit) system to assess its sustainability and impacts, and factors leading to successful implementation
Recommendation 5 – significant investment in understanding farmers’ conditions and perceptions, and in the development of institutions and policies that enable widespread uptake of improved technologies by farmers, and that promote integrated land and water resources management. This should include policies that enable the tremendous potential for fertilizer to greatly increase production in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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